The 50th anniversary of NASA’s Apollo 13 mission just passed on April 11, and we thought Bobcats might enjoy learning a little more about technology history and the mission dubbed the “successful failure” of the Apollo program.
Even if you don’t know about the Apollo 13 mission, you’ve probably heard the famous quote, “Houston, we have a problem,” which was spoken during the mission. Although in reality the quote said by Astronaut Jack Swigert was, “Uh, Houston, we’ve had a problem.” He was referring to a faulty oxygen tank explosion in the service module that destroyed two fuel cells of the command service module. This forced the Lunar Lander that was built for two astronauts to become the lifeboat for four astronauts.
Not only that but the guidance systems on the service module had to be transferred to the lunar lander. One of the issues that arose was finding a way to clean the air of the excess carbon dioxide being produced by the astronauts breathing. Because the filters which removed the carbon dioxide from the air were made by different companies and for different crafts, they didn’t fit in the same holes on the lunar lander. On the ground at Johnson Space Center in Houston, engineers developed a way to attach canisters to clean the air using plastic bags, cardboard, and tape.
After this problem was solved and the guidance systems for re-entry were updated to the Lunar Lander. The Astronauts then were able to make it back to Earth safely.
I had the pleasure of meeting one of the engineers that helped develop the Lunar Lander that was the life raft for the Apollo 13 astronauts. David Cisco was a Spacecraft Ground Technician for testing of the Lunar Module LTA8 and LM-2. He also had experience working as a Lunar Module Stand-in commander and pilot technician, during integrated and individual system testing.
To this day, the Apollo 13 mission represents teamwork, good leadership, and the initiative to think outside of the box to solve unprecedented problems against seemingly insurmountable odds.
Here’s a summary video that NASA recently put out explaining the Apollo 13 Astronauts themselves.
Back in February, I represented Texas State University at the “State of NASA” event held at the Johnson Space Center. If you’re interested in space and technology be sure to check out my post.
Cedrik Chavez is marketing and communications specialist student employee in the IT Marketing and Communications office.
